[This post is adapted from Greg Gibbs' book, Capital Campaign Playbook. Greg has successfully led close to 200 capital campaigns in his career and is proud to work with the team at ministryengine. If you are looking ahead to a Capital Campaign, schedule your free consulting call today.]
When people in the church mention a Capital Campaign, they are almost always thinking about one phase of it – the public phase. People remember or focus on that part because it is the part where church leaders are talking, preaching, praying, meeting, and conversing about the projects with the whole congregation. But there are actually multiple waves and a lot of work before we ever go public with asking for over-and-above financial contributions.
In the pre-campaign waves, we are establishing our readiness as a church to enter a campaign. There is a good chance that if you are reading this, you are in that phase. At a very basic level, the inquiry starts with “How much does our project cost and will our people give that much?”
Beyond the basic question is the idea that the preparation phase is as important (or more important) than the public phase. From due diligence to establishing appropriate targets to assessing congregational buy-in, this phase is where the greatest victories and mishaps may actually occur.
Then, we realize there is still another level. For churches that want to conduct a discipleship-based campaign, we discover an extraordinary opportunity. The campaign can a be massive greenhouse for growing people’s commitment to Christ and their understanding of a life that is true life.
This is why, in part, I'm passionate about this work. Because when there is thoughtfulness in regard to shaping the campaign, it can be an amazing experience filled with celebration and excitement instead of a dull but necessary endeavor dreaded by church leaders. The challenge is to aim for a best-case scenario: that faith in God and commitment to the church grow in a special and intense way.
To meet this challenge, church leaders should pay attention to the process in three waves:
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Discover
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Design
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Disciple
For this post, I wanted to help you see that there is more to a Capital Campaign than the public phase. In subsequent posts we will unpack each of these three phases - Discover, Design, & Disciple - to help you think through how God might lead you to steward the resources in your congregation.
